About

Film Career is a blog specifically designed for young filmmakers, directors, editors, designers, new media artists and other creatives who are about to start an independent career. This blog will help you sort through all the information needed in cinematography, directing, editing, and postproduction. As well as provide tools to get your film started, develop your first audience, crowdfunding and much more! If you ask what makes this blog unique? I’ll tell you two things. First, the weekly interviews with young filmmakers who have launched their first projects and have a lot to say about the nuts and bolts required to get a film rolling. Second, several posts I am planning to write to introduce you to Russian contemporary cinematography – the movies from the land where I was born and raised. If you like the idea of this blog, please, share it with your friends on Facebook

My name is Zina Semenova. Do not misspell it Xena because I am not the warrior princess. Although, I do not exclude some strong relations to Zeus. He is my father, by the way (ask Greeks not Russians about it :)) .

The idea of this blog started when I realized that I want to start a career as an independent filmmaker. Currently, I live in Newport News (Virginia) far away from cities where almost all films happen in the U.S. – New York and LA. I never got professional training at film schools but always was a big explorer of film through constant watching, reading journals & reviews, learning professional software and even hosting my own cinema club “The Grandchildren of Lumière brothers” back in Novosibirsk (Russia) in 2009-10. Here I am now – ready to start this blog and share all that I’ve learned so far.

So, I think this blog will help us in both ways: me – to connect with other filmmakers and start my first real documentary “The Land of Spirits” and you – to learn more about filmmaking and making your first step, of many, to your first movie. I hope that Film Career (FC) will be one of many useful blogs on the Internet that can help you with this goal!

My name is Mike Bogatyrev, I am a freelance cameraman and video editor. After completing my MA TV productions at Bournemouth University (UK) I started my career as a video editor on a small TV station, then progressed onto a cameraman and now: a freelancer.

Folks like me take on all sorts of projects: corporate production, training videos, occasional music video, wedding videos and lecturing in the same field at Reading College and Prospect College.

Anyhow, enough of the regular of “keen-team worker-enthusiastic-office-loving” boring intros and lets get to business.

Why am I here at Film Career?

Two reasons. First one is freelancing is great and it gives me an almost-vertical learning curve but I am moving towards documentary filmmaking. Something with a greater amount grit and passion and, of course, locations!

Second reason is that I want to share what I believe are good tips and field reviews of the kit. One thing is seeing all of it on the Internet: almost always well lit and well described but what’s it like in the field? Not as shiny in many cases.

So, here we are, have a look at my posts and I hope it’ll save filmmakers some problems and perhaps money, too.